(6)Teacher Education

According to Article 33 of the 1880 Education Order, each prefecture was obliged to establish a normal school for the education of elementary school teachers. General Guidelines for the Course of Study for Normal Schools were issued by the Department of Education in August, 1881, and resulted in a standardization of prefectural normal schools into three courses. The higher course (four years) was intended for teachers of all courses of elementary education; the intermediate course (two and one half years) was intended for teachers of the primary and intermediate courses and the primary course (one year) prepared teachers for the primary course of elementary education. In addition to developing the normal school curriculum, the Department of Education also provided a weekly schedule for each course of instruction. Entrance into these courses required that the applicant be at least seventeen years of age (in fact, this was not adhered to and those at least fifteen years of age could be admitted) and a graduate of the intermediate course of an elementary school. A diploma of each course of normal school education could be used as a license (menkyojo) for an elementary school teacher for seven years after graduation. Seven years after all graduates were required to pass an examination of academic competence as well as an evaluation concerning personal character and so on as requirements for receiving a new license for next seven years. Graduates from higher and intermediate courses who showed favorable achievements in academic competence, teaching ability and personal character through seven or more years of employment as elementary school teachers could be awarded a lifetime license without an examination.

General Regulations for Prefectural Normal Schools were issued by the Department of Education in July, 1883. It characterized prefectural normal schools as places where persons who intended to become teachers at elementary schools in the prefecture might receive training based on "principles of loyalty, filial piety and morality." At least three members of the teaching staff of each school had to be "graduates of either a middle school teacher training course at a normal school or a university graduates." Each prefecture was to provide teaching materials for the use of the students and also supply them with their boarding expenses, though some students enrolled at their own expense.

Although elementary school teachers were, in principle, required to have a normal school diploma, the 1880 Education Order also provided the alternative of obtaining an elementary school teacher license from the prefectural governor. Based upon this, the January, 1881 Regulations for Awarding Elementary School Teacher Licenses were issued in January, 1881, followed by the July, 1881 Regulations for the same purpose. During the period of the 1880 Education Order, the moral character of teachers became an issue of serious concern. As mentioned earlier, an Ethical Guide for Elementary School Teachers was issued in June, 1881, and a month later there appeared Regulations for Examining the Conduct of School Teachers, which provided for the termination of employment for those individuals whose behavior was thought to be unsuitable to the teaching profession.

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